The impact of nutritional risk factors and sarcopenia on survival in patients treated with pelvic exenteration for recurrent gynaecological malignancy: a retrospective cohort study

PURPOSE: The aim of the present study is to investigate the prognostic significance of nutritional risk factors and sarcopenia on the outcome of patients with recurrent gynaecological malignancies treated by pelvic exenteration. METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated muscle body composite measurements based on pre-operative CT scans, nutritional risk factors as assessed by a validated pre-operative questionnaire, and clinical–pathological parameters in 65 consecutive patients with recurrent gynaecological malignancies, excluding ovarian cancer, treated by pelvic exenteration at the Royal Marsden Hospital London. Predictive value for postoperative morbidity was investigated by logistic regression analyses. Relevant parameters were included in uni- and multivariate survival analyses. RESULTS: We found only (1) low muscle attenuation (MA)—an established factor for muscle depletion—and (2) moderate risk for malnutrition to be independently associated with shorter overall survival (p = 0.006 and p = 0.008, respectively). MA was significantly lower in overweight and obese patients (p = 0.04). Muscle body composite measurements were not predictive for post-operative morbidity. CONCLUSION: The study suggests that pre-operative low MA and moderate risk for malnutrition are associated with shorter survival in patients with recurrent gynaecological malignancies treated with pelvic exenteration. Further studies are needed to validate these findings in larger cohorts. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00404-021-06273-7.